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That was why although Sidrion suffered every day, he couldn’t disobey or run away from the temple.

“If you could escape from the temple, what would you do?”

“…You mean if I could quit being a damned priest?”

“Right.”

“Then I’d study magic a little…”

“…”

“…I don’t know, I’ve never thought about it.”

Sidrion didn’t want to harbor any hope in vain. He had witnessed how wretchedly people fell apart after clinging to hopes that were no different from delusions.

“Very well.”

Instead of questioning Sidrion, whose mouth was shut, further, Kaywhin called for Ben.

“Ben, contact the Black Tower Master,” he ordered. “Tell him that if he helps me this instant, I will introduce him to the outstanding pupil he had been seeking for so long.”

“Understood.”

“…?”

What happened next was a blur. Some old man who identified himself as the Black Tower Owner appeared and then vanished from the castle along with Kaywhin. Then, they returned and Kaywhin threw a book at Sidrion.

“This is the roster, right?”

“…!”

“Do what you want with it, whether it be burning it completely or just erasing your name.”

This all happened in the span of one day.

***

“I heard that half of the temple’s interior was blown away.”

“…”

“I learned of this later, but it only took an hour.”

***

It only took a little more than an hour for Kaywhin to barge into the temple by himself, knock down all of the temple knights who got in his way, and break into the innermost room of the temple, the chief priest’s room. He crushed the trap that blocked the entrance with his strength.

The temple ultimately overlooked the incident.

This was primarily because nothing good would come from outsiders learning that the temple had become incapacitated at the hands of a single person.

“Today’s incident must never, ever fall upon outsiders’ ears.”

“The credibility of the temple…”

“Our status…”

Secondly, they could not fully assert that they were the “victims” of this incident.

Kaywhin was certainly justified in his actions.

After all, it technically was the temple that attempted to mess with Kaywhin first by using Sidrion. There was no way to evade this justification without Sidrion’s silence.

In the end, the temple decided to remain silent about the incident. Thus, only the parties involved were aware that Kaywhin had broken into the temple and stolen their roster.

***

“That day, after receiving the roster, I asked him what I should do.”

***

Even with the roster in front of him, Sidrion couldn’t believe his eyes. He flipped through the pages, and sure enough, it was the roster.

He kept quiet for several minutes before just barely uttering, “…What should I do?”

“…”

“What should I do… for you?”

“You don’t have to do anything.”

“…”

“Just do what you want to do.”

That day, Sidrion became the pupil of the old man who was the master of the Black Tower at that time.

And exactly one year later, Sidrion rose to the position of the Black Tower’s new master, achieving a unanimous vote from all the sorcerers of the Black Tower for the first time in 150 years.

***

“I occasionally wonder where I would be if Kaywhin hadn’t stepped up that day.”

“…”

“Perhaps I’d still be the temple’s slave. I’d have gone insane by now. Or I would have attacked the temple sloppily, killing a few priests and fleeing. I’d be a fugitive for the rest of my life.”

Sidrion laughed bitterly.

“And about the roster… I returned it to the temple after becoming Master of the Black Tower. With just my name erased.”

“…”

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.”

That was the end of his story.

Sidrion closed his mouth.

A faint breeze brushed past them. Then, Yelena got up.

“Go to bed early today.”

“Excuse me?”

“We have somewhere to be tomorrow morning.”

With that, Yelena disappeared into the mansion.

Sidrion briefly followed her trace, suspicious.

***

The next day, Yelena boarded the horse carriage with a face that looked like she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep.

“Let’s go to the temple.”

“The temple?”

“Yes. The largest and most renowned place in the capital.”

The carriage departed.

Sidrion, there as Yelena’s bodyguard, could only watch her, without a clue as to what she was thinking.

Soon after, the carriage arrived at the temple.

Seeing the luxurious horse carriage she got off of, a priest greeted Yelena with great hospitality.

“What brings you to the temp…”

Yelena took out a thin book and threw it down as the priest gave her a warm welcome. It was a ledger.

“Hand over my donations.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Hand over all the donations made to the temple in my name. Now.”